Published March 28, 2016 at 9:01 PM Updated April 11, 2016 at 12:23 PM

The European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos have collaborated on a new probe that’s heading to Mars. The spacecraft’s aim is to explore the Red Planet for signs of life.

CCTV’s Li Wanmei reports.

ESA-Russian probe to search for life on the Red Planet

ESA-Russian probe to search for life on the Red Planet

The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos have collaborated on a new probe that's heading to Mars. The spacecraft's aim is to explore the Red Planet for signs of life. CCTV's Li Wanmei reports.

The ExoMars is a collaborative project of the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos.

The two-part mission aims to explore Mars and hunt for signs of life on the red planet.

According to the ExoMars Project Scientist, Dr. Jorge Vago, three goals are expected to be achieved in the first stage.

The first goal is a follow up on the discovery of methane previous mission from 2004, Dr Vago said.

“The second objective is for Europe and Russia to learn how to land on Mars,” he added. “The third objective is to have a telecommunication satellite in orbiter around Mars for all the countries that want to land on Mars to be able to send their science data back to Earth.”

The ExoMars probe is expected to reach Mars in October, after a 300 million-mile journey in the space.